19 ROUNDS with Ray Shea

We return to asking the hard-hitting questions of our editorial FAM, this time with memoir editor Ray Shea. He’s the latest to tackle the 19 rounds:

1. Early bird or night owl?I have pretty bad insomnia and I hate the sun so night night night. But I’m losing the ability to sleep late. Honestly I don’t really sleep all that much.

2. What was your worst haircut?1983: I wanted something Bowie, the stylist thought I was more of a Tears for Fears guy. It took a long time for the sides to grow back in.

3. If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?Allegri, Miserere Mei Deus

4. Can you roll your tongue?Yes.

5. Mayonnaise: yes or no?HELL yes.

6. What is your least favorite word to come across when reading a book or story?Chuckled.

7. Which movie was better than the book?Blade Runner. Philip K. Dick was a brilliant idea man but honestly he was kind of a methed-out hack when it came to prose.

8. What was your first concert?1980 Day of Rock’n’Roll In the Superdome. Cheap Trick, Christopher Cross, The Eagles, and Foreigner. I should have just left after Cheap Trick but the daiquiri stand wasn’t checking ID.

9. It’s Friday night. You’re home alone. What did you order for dinner and what’s on the TV?Pizza (Italian sausage, green peppers, onions). Something with subtitles, probably black & white.

10. How do you take your coffee?Cream, no sugar. As often as possible. See also question 1.

11. What expression do you use that most people have never heard?I compulsively quote movies so usually something random from The Godfather or Aliens or Kelly’s Heroes or 8 1/2. People look at me funny.

12. What movie have you seen the most times?Not counting kid movies? Blade Runner. Or maybe Kelly’s Heroes.

13. What is the best thing you cook or bake?Crawfish ettoufee.

14. Finish this sentence: More people should be reading _______________.That’s already a complete sentence.

16. What’s the hardest thing about writing?Creating something out of nothing.

17. What’s the best thing about writing?Revising when you think you’ve got something.

18. What is your favorite sentence from a short story or poem?“All the time you spend tryin to get back what’s been took from you there’s more goin out the door. After a while you just try and get a tourniquet on it.” –Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men

19. What question were you hoping to be asked?“May I have ten thousand marbles please?”